Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV by Davis Erik

Author:Davis, Erik [Davis, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Continuum US
Published: 2005-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

HOT DOG

As the story goes, “Rock and Roll” began as a lark. In the midst of a frustrating rehearsal of “Four Sticks,” John Bonham spontaneously exploded into the opening bars of the 1957 Little Richard tune “Keep a Knockin’.” Page rode in with a hot-rod riff out of thin air and, within four takes, one of the most punk-assed and perfect Led Zeppelin cuts was born. Until the mid-1970s, the band used “Rock and Roll” to open or close their shows, and it’s not hard to hear why: Page channels his adolescent id, Plant trumps loneliness with exuberance, and Bonham bashes out a high-frequency sheen with the high-hat and cymbals he usually employs with canny restraint. Though Zeppelin’s oeuvre has more hope and humor in it than is usually acknowledged (think “Celebration Day,” “The Crunge,” “Hey Hey What Can I Do”), Zeppelin has rarely made such a joyous noise. It’s almost innocent.

Part of the fun is rooted in the opportunity the song affords Page to indulge in the rockabilly music etched onto the folds of his brain: the giddy twang and raucous goofs of Scotty Moore, Cliff Gallup, and James Burton, in particular. Picture the scene: a skinny 12-year-old Jimmy, all alone in some boring London suburb, playing Gene Vincent’s “Race the Devil” over and over again, jumping around as Gallup’s jittery licks dizzily slip between keys, while Vincent’s lyric plants a strange seed in the boy’s budding soul. Unlike Eric Clapton, but like his sometimes pal Jeff Beck, Page did not turn his back on rock and roll when he discovered and began to draw from the deeper, or at least more charged, well of the blues. (Page’s collection of Sun records and early rock memorabilia rivals his Crowleyania.) Alvin Lee reports that Page used to carry around a picture of Burton in his wallet, a figure of power despite the fact that the guitarist played with Ricky Nelson and literally lived with Ozzie and Harriet. Page shared this love of rock and roll with Plant, who, despite extensive subcultural peregrinations through beat jazz, washboard blues, and hobbity folk-rock, placed Elvis at the top of his musical identity shrine.

The origin story of “Rock and Roll” stresses the spontaneous virtuosity of the moment. The tune appeared as a throwaway, a disposable splatter of frustration and fuck-all meant to clear the head. In other words: genuine rock and roll. But what really made it rock and roll was the band’s ability to recognize their little pop rocket for what it was: a concise charge of energy that would please millions of fans. “Rock and Roll” is a brazenly pop seduction that, in the midst of such a “heavy” album, comes across as exuberant honesty—cock rock not as dark mastery, but as commodified adolescent pleasure, like a cherry lollipop. The essence of the song is commercial, its later fate insured from the beginning. During the broadcast of the 2002 Super Bowl, Oldsmobile launched a campaign to reclaim the luxury car market with a series of spots that featured “Rock and Roll” as the soundtrack.

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